The First Book of Moses: Genesis

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Joseph fell on his father’s face and he cried over him and kissed him.

Joseph commanded his servants who prepared the dead for burial to embalm his father’s body.

It took forty days to embalm Jacob’s body, because that is the amount of time that was always required for them to embalm a body. The people of Egypt cried for seventy days because of Jacob’s death.

When the time of mourning was finished, Joseph said to the king’s officials, “If you are pleased with me, please take this message to the king:

‘When my father was about to die, he told me to solemnly promise that I would bury his body in Canaan land, in the tomb that he himself had prepared. So please let me go up to Canaan and bury my father’s body. Then I will return.’”

After they gave the king the message, he replied, “Tell Joseph, ‘Go up and bury your father’s body, as you swore that you would do.’”

So Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father’s body. All of the king’s officials, all the king’s advisors, and all the elders in Egypt went with him.

His family’s small children and their sheep and goats and their cattle stayed in the region of Goshen. But all the rest of Joseph’s family and his brothers and his father’s family went with him.

Men riding in chariots and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.

They went to the east side of the Jordan River and arrived at Atad. There was a place there where people threshed the grain to separate the wheat from the chaff. There they mourned loudly for Jacob for a long time. Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for his father for seven days.

When the Canaan people group who lived there saw them mourning like that, they said, “This is a sad mourning place for the people of Egypt!” So they named the place Abel Mizraim, which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean “mourning of the Egyptians.”

Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.

They crossed the Jordan River and carried Jacob’s body into Canaan land. They buried it in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre town. That was the field that Abraham had bought from Ephron, who was one of the Heth people group, to use as a burial place.

After he had buried his father, Joseph and his brothers and all the others who had gone up to Canaan with him for the funeral returned to Egypt.

Joseph Comforts His Brothers

After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers became worried. They realized what might happen. They said, “What will happen if Joseph is carrying hatred for us and wants to take revenge on us, because of all the evil things we did to him many years ago?”

So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:

‘Say to Joseph, Please forgive your older brothers for the evil thing that they did to you, for their terrible sin against you, because what they did to you was very wrong.’ So now we, who are servants of your father’s God, ask you, please forgive us for what we did to you.” Joseph cried when he received their message.

Then his older brothers themselves came and threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph, and one of them said, “Please listen. We will be your servants.”

But Joseph replied to them, “Do not be afraid! God is the one who punishes people; am I God?

As for you, yes, you wanted to do something very evil to me. But God caused something good to come from it! He wanted to save many people from dying of hunger, and that is what happened! Today they are alive!

So I say again, do not be afraid! I will make sure that you and your children have enough to eat.” In this way he reassured them as he spoke to them.

The Death of Joseph

Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.

He lived long enough to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. The children of Joseph’s grandson Machir, who was Manasseh’s son, were born before Joseph died, and they were recognized as being his descendants.

One day Joseph said to his older brothers, “I am about to die. But God will certainly help you. Some day he will lead your descendants up out of this land and take them to Canaan, the land that he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Then Joseph said, “When God enables you to do that, you must take my body up from here to Canaan.” He made his older brothers solemnly promise to do that.

So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.

Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.

Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.

Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”

Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”

Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,

all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company.

They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.

When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

His sons did to him just as he commanded them,

for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.

Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

Joseph Comforts His Brothers

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.”

They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,

‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.

Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.

Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”

So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.